Fiverr Community Forum

Buyer extorting me for a revision

Your Fiverr Experience The Ranting Pot
#1

I had a buyer order a voiceover. Right away I replied asking for clarification on one sentence that didn’t make sense. I literally waited until the last hour that the gig was due, but never heard back from her, so I completed the gig and read the sentence exactly how it was in her script. A few days after I delivered the gig she contacted me asking for a revision. Not only did she change that one sentence, but there were several other changes throughout the script. I said, no problem and sent her an offer for a revision, as it is clearly stated in my gig description that revisions are 1 gig extra.

She is refusing to pay anything for a revision, even though the first script was delivered on time and was well done– exactly the way the script read. I explained that I had given her an opportunity to fix the problem before I completed the script. Plus she made changes throughout the script, so it’s only fair to pay a revision fee.

She said I was putting her in a difficult place between her and her buyer on the other end. I said, that’s really unfortunate, but not my problem. Now she is asking for her money back and says she wasn’t satisfied with the first script, even though she had originally told me she loved my voice. It simply isn’t fair for me to lose time and money on this deal just so that she can avoid losing any money on her end. I’m basically getting extorted. Do I have any recourse? What happens if I continue to decline the cancellation?

#2

Customer Support.

#3

I thought someone else would come and elaborate, but evidently not. This is a Customer Support situation. You gave your buyer a lot of avenues (you checked about that last sentence) and they were aware of your policies (if they couldn’t be arsed to read your revision policy, well, that’s their fault). There’s also the flim-flamming between “love the script” and “hate the script”. Oh, and she’s a middleman–and not a very good one at that if she couldn’t smooth the channels of communication between you and the ultimate buyer.

The changes are clearly from her buyer, and she’s passing the buck onto you. But when you do write to Customer Support, do check the TOS and cancellation policy to bolster your argument (what I said, basically). Your first response may be to “work it out”–that’s a canned one. Emphasize your argument and do not badger. They’re overworked and dealing with angry unreasonable people already, so aim to be the opposite and respectful. This will help.

You can also let the buyer know that you are doing this and give them the ticket number. They may well back off (a sign of a seasoned scam buyer flying under the radar), or be happy (inexperienced idiot, no idea what they’re doing, have read a get rich quick book). Either way, you hold the cards now.

The only wild card is your review. A 1-star review wouldn’t be good, and unless it was completely unreasonable, that will be there to stay. You might want to consider that before going on the warpath.

If you continue to decline the cancellation the money stays in limbo forever, I think.

#4

They’re just trying to get extra work out of you for free, it’s common practice on here unfortunately, I’d just mutually cancel the gig and move on, these ppl aren’t worth the time and effort imo, really up to you though if you think it’s worth battling over? :slight_smile:

#5

From now on, watermark your deliveries until your clients are 100% satisfied. It’s what I do, and if there is a cancellation, they can’t use the work.

#6

If I did VO gigs I’d do Morse SOS (…–…) every 5 seconds for tests.

subliminal

#7

She changed the script and you have to read that from beginning? That´s like a client who asks a prooreader to proofread and then she/he changes the script and asks the proofreader to proofread the script that has been changed. With no extra money, don´t waste time for people like that. Sounds like a pain in the b* tt.